“Overall, it was a disappointing season,” sixth-year head coach Dan McNally said. “I feel that we had the opportunity to win more games than we did. The fact that one of our key senior captains, Tyler Moriarty, didn’t play for us this year due to injury was a major blow because in reality we had a young team and we really needed his experience. Having said that, we made a good start to the season, and we put ourselves in a position for success. In conference play, I really felt that the absence of Tyler was significant.”
The Yellowjackets were led by senior forward and co-captain, Chris Andre, who had an impressive season scoring 10 goals and six assists to lead the team in both areas. Andre earned first team all-conference honors and set the school-record for career assists with 24. His 24 assists tied the GNAC record for career assists with that of Pat Doran of Seattle University (2002-2005).
Andre's career record includes playing in a school-record 71 games with 70 starts. His 20 career goals ranks him sixth in school history and second in career points with 64.
Andre fared well in the classroom, as well as on the field this season. His classroom performance earned not only Academic All-GNAC honors, but a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII second team selection.
“Chris Andre had an amazing senior season,” McNally said. “He carried the team, especially during conference play. We were young and inexperienced in most positions and he put the team on his back and played very well. He really deserved first team all-conference and he had a fantastic career. I am really proud of him.”
In all, five Yellowjackets earned all-conference honors in 2010. Andre was a first team selection, while sophomore transfer, Conner Moe, was a second team selection. From the center back position, Moe played and started all 18 games and logged 1634 minutes which was good for third-most on the team. He scored two goals with the game winner in a 2-0 win at Saint Martin’s.
“Connor Moe made a huge impact,” McNally said. “We made him a co-captain midway through the season because he was having such an impact on and off the field. He is going to be a huge player for us in the future.”
Sophomore transfer Thomas Sheets and seniors Kyle Moriarty and Matt Mitchell earned honorable mention all-conference honors. Sheets was second on the team in scoring with four goals, three assists and 11 points. He led the team with 53 shots and had two game winners.
“Thomas Sheets did a great job and scored some vital goals this year,” McNally said. “He is a player who needs to improve in certain areas, but if he works hard at his game he can be a big time player in the conference next season.”
Mitchell capped a record-setting career between the posts as he tallied a 1.47 goals against average this season and stopped a career-high 73 shots in 1654:13 minutes. His 73 saves led the conference and his three shutouts were fourth-best in league play, while the 1.47 GAA was third-best.
Like Andre, Mitchell leaves his mark on the school record book. He logged a school-record 4293:24 minutes of action in four years. Mitchell ranks third in career goals against average at a 1.24 clip, and leads the school annals with 194 saves.
Moriarty played in every game the past two seasons and led the team in minutes each year. He was a key cog in the Yellowjacket defense all four years of his career and tallied two assists this year, with five for his career.
While there was room for improvement this season, McNally felt that the team exhibited many positives.
“I thought the positives this season were that we were very organized collectively, that as a group everyone knew their role and played hard and gave a lot of effort," McNally said. "The weaknesses were at crucial times as we made individual mistakes that were punished and cost us wins.”
McNally was pleased with the performances of sophomores Clifton Thomas and Blair Stevenson this season. Thomas scored his lone goal of the season in a 4-1 with the University of Mary. Thomas started seven games of the final nine games and played in 15 overall. Stevenson played in 16 games with 14 starts. He tallied two assists with eight shots in 1190 minutes of action.
“I think Clifton Thomas was a pleasant surprise this season,” McNally said. “He has a lot of talent and we see it in practice, but he has never been able to showcase it in a game. In the second half of the season, he really started to understand what it’s all about and played well. He needs to take that into his junior year and push to start every game.”
“Blair had a good season,” McNally said. “It’s important for us, than in 2011, he continues to play at a high level.”
The season started on the road at Grand Canyon as the Yellowjackets battled back to tie the game 1-1 in double overtime. Grand Canyon earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament this year. The Yellowjackets followed with a solid win versus Dixie State College as junior Garion Holian scored his first of four goals on the season for a 1-0 win.
The Yellowjackets returned home with a 2-1 win over Colorado Christian and a neutral site win versus Adams State. From there, the Jackets struggled a bit, winning just two of their next seven games. During the stretch, MSUB tallied its second consecutive win at Western Washington with a thrilling 3-2 victory in Bellingham.
A 4-1 win at the University of Mary got the Jackets back on track, followed by a 2-0 shutout at Saint Martin’s. Arch-rival Seattle Pacific handed the Yellowjackets their third one-goal conference defeat with a 2-1 win in overtime. The Yellowjackets then dropped their fourth and fifth one-goal conference games to Western Washington and Northwest Nazarene at home.
“We had a great win at Western Washington and tied at NCAA Tournament participant Grand Canyon,” McNally said. “We lost five conference games by one goal. We were close, but we just didn’t have enough to win the big games.”
Despite some disappointments, the Yellowjackets saw a lot of progress and promise for the future. With numerous players returning at key positions, the Yellowjackets are poised to make another run at the conference title in 2011.
“Overall, I was proud of the way the guys continued to work hard during the season,” McNally concluded. “We had a lot of injuries and we were very rarely able to pick the same team twice in a row. The guys worked hard and I really enjoyed coaching this group. We have a good nucleus returning for 2011 and we have to work hard in the spring to make a big impact in the conference next fall.”
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